'Mercury Half-Life' apt finale

By Andrew Gilbert

Correspondent

Posted:
02/25/2014 12:00:00 PM PST

Updated:
02/25/2014 03:37:43 PM PST

When word came that Trey McIntrye was disbanding his full-time dance company, it seemed like the end of a crazy dream. But it turns out that by closing one chapter, the polymathic choreographer is freeing himself to pursue numerous other visions.

McIntrye was already a major force in contemporary dance through his long tenure with Houston Ballet when he founded the Trey McIntrye Project in 2005. Initially conceived as a summer touring project, TMP became a full-time outfit in 2008 when the company relocated to Boise, Idaho, a risky and closely watched move that turned into a model of collaboration between a culture-hungry city and an artist unafraid of the unbeaten path.

But no matter where you are running it, a dance company is no plié in the park, and McIntyre has too many other interests to focus exclusively on that Sisyphean task. He recently announced that he's ramping down TMP as a full-time company following the tour that brings it back to Zellerbach Hall March 21-22 for a Cal Performances engagement. For McIntyre, he's not losing a company; he's gaining a world pregnant with possibilities.

"I've never been drawn to dance as a medium," he said in a recent phone conversation from the TMP studio in Boise. "For me, the point is not about dance. I had great fortune to develop in this language, but there's a real craving to explore others. We're paring down to a staff of two or three. It'll take discipline to scale back, because it's been incredibly ambitious, and as new opportunities arise, we jump on them. After the tour, there'll be an incubation period where ideas develop on a smaller scale."

Advertisement

McIntyre is making the transition in style. He presents two West Coast premieres at Zellerbach, including the ambitious "Mercury Half-Life," a 50-minute work set to the music of Queen that explores the life of the British rock band's late lead singer Freddie Mercury. The other piece on the program is the Cal Performances co-commission "The Vinegar Works: Four Dances of Moral Instruction." Inspired by the work of illustrator and writer Edward Gorey, whose dark and playfully gothic vision is a major inspiration to the steampunk movement and annual Edwardian Ball events held in San Francisco and Los Angeles, "The Vinegar Works" is set to Shostakovich's Piano Quintet in G minor and features puppets created by Michael Curry (known for his masks for the Broadway production of "The Lion King").

"Curry was jetting back and forth to Sochi to work on the opening ceremonies for the Olympics while we've been working on this," McIntyre says. "They came up with this outstanding puppetry, so well-made and simple, constructed as if two-dimensional illustrations popped off the page. I haven't worked in storytelling for a while, but it's part of my heritage from Houston Ballet. It's very fun to go back into this world. Gorey walks the line between linear narration and being quite surreal, between the very cute and very sick."

McIntyre's calendar is already packed with projects. He created a piece for the Pennsylvania Ballet's 50th anniversary and has other commissions lined up for the next year. When it comes to TMP, he's looking at exploring other media, particularly film and photography. In the coming months, the company will premiere "Ma Maison," a feature-length documentary about the company's collaboration with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band. And McIntyre is also finishing several photography projects, including a collaboration with the National Forest Service celebrating the Sawtooth National Forest in Idaho.

Rather than feeling sad about shutting down his company, McIntyre sounds almost giddy. "I feel like there's a dam inside of my heart that's broken open," he says. "There's so much I want to be able to embark on and explore. Nothing but possibility." Amid all the change, some things remain the same. He's fallen in love with Boise, plans to continue living there. "It's my home," McIntyre says. "I put down roots here. I'll do more traveling, but I'm hoping I don't miss another Boise summer in my lifetime."

DON'T MISS: This weekend, the Black Choreographers Festival: Here & Now moves to Oakland's Laney College, starting Friday with a screening of "Upaj: Improvise," a documentary about the creation of "India Jazz Suites," a collaboration between Pandit Chitresh Das and Jason Samuels Smith. Also featured: dances by Kendra Kimbrough Barnes, Gregory Dawson, Joanna Haigood and others. It concludes March 6-8 at ODC Theater with various collaborations centering on Robert Moses' Kin.